This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

CHICAGO—When Dave Bolland was asked this week what he misses most about living in the Windy City, the first-year Maple Leaf hemmed and hawed a little.

Pinned down, he offered precisely one concrete example, specifically a hot-dog stand called the Weiners Circle.

“Just a fun spot to go to,” Bolland said.

Perhaps it’s fitting that Bolland expressed his affection for processed meat at this particular time in the season. Nine games in, Hogtown’s NHL team has put up a satisfying enough win-loss record of 6-3-0. But fans of the club find themselves in a place also occupied by lovers of char-grilled Vienna red hots. To wit: If they think too deeply about precisely what’s gone into a beloved product, their stomachs can turn and churn.

Witness Saturday night’s 3-1 loss to the Blackhawks at the United Center. The scoreline didn’t suggest an utter domination by the defending Stanley Cup champions, and the Maple Leafs had their chances to make it even closer. But the raw ingredients of Toronto’s second straight loss weren’t pretty in the least. On a night that saw the visitors outshot 40-20, the Blackhawks often commanded the play with man-versus-boy authority.

Article Continued Below

“We know we have a lot of work to do. By no means are we satisfied with our start,” said Leafs forward James van Riemsdyk, who logged 20-plus minutes after missing Thursday’s loss to the Hurricanes with back spasms. “These last two games have started to kind of give us what we deserve a little bit.”

Indeed, while Toronto’s goal differential is a solid plus-8 through nine games — and while the Leafs are one game away from getting prized free-agent signing David Clarkson back from a 10-game suspension — it’s hard to ignore some disturbing early-season trends in Leafland. Toronto isn’t generating enough shots, isn’t commanding enough possession — isn’t, in short, playing very well. Coming into Saturday’s game they were third-last in the league in shots against per game at 35.0, this while managing 28.1 shots of their own on a typical night. A season ago they overcame that kind of a margin well enough, becoming just the fourth team in 20 years to make the post-season with a shot differential of minus-5 or worse. It’ll be a trick to make the playoffs again if they can’t tighten that gap.

The Blackhawks took a 1-0 lead early in the second period after Toronto starter Jonathan Bernier failed to catch a shot from Marcus Kruger. Positioned well out of his net and unable to control the rebound, Bernier couldn’t recover. Bryan Bickell pounced and patiently steered the puck around the down-and-out Leafs goaltender.

But the Leafs have earned a reputation as rope-a-dope opportunists for a reason. When Nazem Kadri tied the game at 1-1 by stuffing in a goalmouth bouncer on a Toronto power play, it marked just the fourth shot on goal by the visitors.

Ex-Leaf Mike Kostka scored his first NHL goal to make it 2-1 for the Blackhawks. And Chicago’s pressure was incessant; a late-second-period power play brought the home team a 3-1 lead, Brandon Pirri cashing in a cross-ice pass from Brandon Saad.

The Blackhawks appeared to have taken a 4-1 lead early in the third period, when Joakim Nordstrom put a puck past Bernier. But the goal was waved off as Bickell was whistled for goaltender interference. Instead of a three-goal deficit, the Leafs had a power play and a chance to cut into the Chicago lead. But the visitors — though their play with the man advantage has been a bright spot this season, third-best in the league — couldn’t cash in on the opportunity. They played better in the final frame, when the shots were 11-11, but it wasn’t nearly good enough.

“They play a high-tempo game and we didn’t seem to be able to keep the pace up until the third period,” said head coach Randy Carlyle.

Not that one couldn’t spin the positives from Saturday’s drubbing.

“We’re still in a pretty good spot right now and we haven’t come close to playing our best hockey,” said Kadri.

Upon arriving in his former professional home on Friday night, Bolland ventured out for dinner with some old pals, among them Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews. For six seasons and two Stanley Cup victories, Bolland and Toews were Blackhawks teammates; on Saturday night they were matched up against each other for the first time as pros. Bolland, who scored the Cup winner back in June, received a couple of warm welcomes from the United Center crowd, but the harsh reality was this: His new team is no match for his old team, and it’s not even close.

“Now when you’re playing against them, it’s a little different than playing with them,” Bolland said. “You sort of see how things go on, but I think as a result we got better in this room.”

Van Riemsdyk was asked why the Leafs can’t seem to keep the puck in their opponents’ end for anything longer than a fleeting instant.

“I don’t know. That’s the million-dollar question, I think, right now,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s a mindset or what it is. We just haven’t been able to do it. If I had the answer for it, I think we’d be doing it more. But I don’t.”

Perhaps the Leafs are, as Bolland suggests, getting better. Perhaps their hot-dog-stand stops in the offensive zone will soon enough morph into the equivalent of sit-down steak dinners. But in the latest examination of what goes into Toronto’s on-ice product, fundamental substance was sorely lacking

The Toronto Star and thestar.com, each property of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, One Yonge Street, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5E 1E6. You can unsubscribe at any time. Please contact us or see our privacy policy for more information.

More from the Toronto Star & Partners

LOADING

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com